Shoe press pad



Hune 18, 1935. w c CARD, JR 2,005,177

SHOE PRES S PAD Filed Aug. 8, 1933 ATTORN EY Patented June 18, 1935uNIrEosTATEs PATENT orries William 0. Card, Jr Winthrop, Mass, assignorto Compo Shoc Machinery Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation ofDelaware This invention relates 'to shoe presses of the type whichareused in affixing soles to lasted uppers in the manufacture of cementedshoes, andmore particularly to the inflatable pads used in such presses.v

A general object of the. invention is to provide a shoe press pad havinggenerally improved characteristics which serve to facilitate the soleaffixing operation and toinsure elimination of defects in the quality ofthe-work produced. More particularly the invention has for objects theprovision of a shoe press pad'having a casing of improved configurationwherein stretch or distortion of the casing material is eliminated ormaterially reduced, with a consequent increase in the accuracy ofattaching soles, and wherein the full benefit of the pressure in the padis immediately made available along the entire bottom of the shoe- Afurther object is to provide shoe'press pads which are individuallydesigned for exclusive use with right or left shoes.

. 1 Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will inpart appear hereinafter;

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessingthe features, properties, and the relation of elements which will beexemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of theapplication of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the inventionreference should be had ally comprise an inflatable air pad over whichis disposed a shoe supporting or clamping means for holding the shoeassembly against upward displacement by the'infiatable pad. These padsusually comprise an inflatable rubber bladder encased in a suitableleather casing. In my copending application Serial No. 522,738, there isshown a shoe press wherein the shoe supporting means is adapted to bekept immovable during the loading operation, and wherein the pad isespecially designed to cooperate with such a.

-Application'AuguSt 8, N',684.165. 7 Claims. (01. 12-38) supportingmeans. The pad of the present invention isa dapted to be used in such apress,

and in addition possessescharacteristic features which render itsuseadvantageous generally in I all types of infiatablesole afiixingpresses.

As an inflatable shoe press becomes used in the-factory, the-leathercasing of its pad" gets broken-in. That is, a pocket is formed in theshoe contacting part ofits upper diaphragm in much the same manner thata pocket is formed in a baseball glove upon continueduse. Lackofuniformity in the texture of leather resultsin pronounced stretch anddistortion in many casings as'theyget broken in, and this fault isaccentuated ifboth rightand left shoes are promiscuouslyhandled in thesame press. Even when, through custom, the'same press was repeatedlyused for "right shoes alone or viceversa, undue stretch and distortionwas encountered because of the difficulty of adapting the casing surfaceto both the outside and inside edge of the sole.

. It will be appreciated that the curve, elevation and general contourof the inside 'of an attached sole is considerably different from thesweep and curve of the outside, the former, among other things,having-its curve broken more closely toward the toe, and more abruptly.Faulty break ing in of the pads through stretch and distortionoften-results in lack of accuracy in attaching the, soles, and sometimescauses the shoe to slant sideways in the jack, and also frequentlycompels the use fof unduly high pressures to assure proper accuracyandpressing contact between the sole and theupper. I g In the'presentinvention there is provided a pad casing of a configuration which isespecially adapted for use with left shoes alone, or with 7 right shoesalone, as the case may be. Inthe drawing there is shown by way ofillustrationa left pad casing. It will be understood that the rightcasing will symmetrically correspond thereto. v

Referring more particularly to the drawing,v there is shown a casinggenerally designated l0 having an upper wall or diaphragm l I and abottom wall I2. These are spaced by vertical end walls l3 and i4 and bya left side wall or gusset l5 and a right side wall or gusset Hi, theseveral walls being suitably attached at their meeting edges by means ofstitching, or the like. It will be understood that a suitable inflatablerubber bladder (not shown) is confined within the casing and is equippedwith a suitable inflating-and deflating conduit (also not shown). Thepad is adapted to be seated in the pad holding pocket of a press such asthat described in my aforementioned copending application Serial No.522,738, or in or on any other convenient and suitable form of press.

The forward part of the pad, designated l1 and extending from the frontedge thereof to the break line l8 at the ball of a shoe locatedthereover is the thinnest part of the entire pad. From this break linel8 the pad gradually thickens, reaching its maximum thicknesssubstantially medially of the shank portion, designated I9, and fromthence decreasing in thickness to a line 20 located at the forward edgeof the heel seat portion where it meets the shank portion. From thisline, the remaining portion 2| of the pad continues at a uniformthickness which is greater than that of forepart section I! but is lessthan that of shank section [9.

The left side wall or gusset I5 is of uniform vertical height from itsforward end to the point .22 which is located approximately opposite thebreak line at the ball for the outside of the shoe. The right side wallor gusset l6 maintains a uniform vertical height from its forward heightto a point 23 which is approximately opposite, the

break at the ball for the inside of the shoe, and,

as illustrated, is somewhat further forward than point 22 because of thedifference in contour of the two sides of the shoe. i

It will thus be seen that the pad is thinnest at its forepart portion,is thickest at the shank portion and is of intermediate thickness at theheel seat. These terms, forepart, shank, etc., as

.applied to the pad are of course intended to refer to those vicinitiesof the pad which are adjacent the named parts of a shoe placedthereover. The precision of their correspondence with the related partsof the shoe will depend upon the particular size of shoe used, it beingpossible, however, to handle various sizes of lasts with satisfactoryresults.

An advantageous feature of the present casing resides in the fact thatthe right or inside side wall I6 is throughout of greater verticalheight and the curve or break from the forepart to the shank is moreabrupt than in the corresponding portions of the left or outside sidewall l5, as will be seen from a comparison of Figs. 2 and 3 of thedrawing. That is, the casing is thicker on the inside than on theoutside, so that when the pad is in place on the press the upper wall ofthe casing in effect slopes from the inside downwardlytoward the outsideedge. This, especially when coupled with other novel characteristics ofthe pad, is ofgreat advantage. The provision of a pad of the kinddescribed substantially eliminates faulty pad distortion, side slantingof the shoes, and other defects accompanying or attendant upon thosementioned. The inflatable pressing surface which is presented againstthe shoe sole is admirably fitted properly to affix the sole to theupper despite the troublesome configuration of the underside of theshoe. Better results as to accurate, yet speedy, mating of soles anduppers are obtainable with the present pad than with those heretofore incommon use. The number of defective shoes produced is greatly minimized,while at the same time, the operators work in registering and affixingthe shoe parts is speeded and generally facilitated.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article and differentembodiments of the invention could be made without departing from thescope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limiting sense.

,It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. An inflatable shoe press pad for handling right or left shoes only,and having a thickened shank portion, said thickened portion being ofgreater longitudinal extent at the inside edge of the pad than at theoutside.

2. An inflatable shoe press pad for handling right or left shoes only,said pad being thicker along its inside edge than along its outsideedge.

3. An inflatable shoe press pad for handling right or left shoes only,said pad having its upper shoe contacting surface sloping downwardlyfrom the inside edge toward the outside edge.

4. An inflatable shoe press pad for right or left shoes only, includinga casing having top and bottom walls spaced by lateral gussets, theinside gusset being of greater height than the outside gusset.

5. An inflatable shoe press pad for right or left shoes only, includinga casing having top and bottom walls spaced by lateral gussets, saidgussets being of greater height at the shank portion thanat otherportions of the pad, and the inside gusset being of greater height thanthe outside gusset.

